Musicals Tonight!, the scrappy musicals-in-concert series at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, revives the Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley musical, The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd, with George S. Irving in the role of Sir, Dec. 4-22.

Musicals Tonight!, the scrappy musicals-in-concert series at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, revives the Leslie Bricusse-Anthony Newley musical, The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd, with George S. Irving in the role of Sir, Dec. 4-22.

Thomas Mills directs the allegorical tale that includes the tunes, "Who Can I Turn To?" and "A Wonderful Day Like Today." The yarn has a character named Cocky (played by David Edwards) pitted against the imperious Sir, and they play "the game of life" in a small arena-like space. The show is one of several then-experimental musicals of the 1960s (think The Fantasticks or Stop the World — I Want to Get Off) that used archetypes to express universal themes.

Cyril Ritchard played Sir on Broadway in 1965. George S. Irving is the respected musical comedy actor who won a Tony Award Best Featured Actor (Musical) for Irene in 1973 and was nommed in 1987 for Me and My Girl.